So I Wanna Be a Photographer

After drowing in a career I dislike for the past six years, I'm finally ready to make some sort of plunge. I'm using business school as a safety, but, in all honesty, I'd love to make a go at is a photographer/photojournalist. With my only training being an Intro. to B&W class at the School of Visual Arts, how should I go about furthering this? Should I get an undergrad degree (already have one in sociology)? Should I buy a digital camera (still using/learning the trusty Canon EOS ElanIIe)? Should I take a workshop?

Before plunging into corporate America, I'd love to see if this photography thing can happen.

To make money you need to have logistical business sense. No one is going to teach you your creativity at school, so you either have it or not. I'd say learn the ins and outs of photography on your own and concentrate on business in school. I was just having this conversation with a professional photographer yesterday. I was asking how the market is for photographers. He said he knows some very talented photographers that aren't making anything because they don't have the business sense of which jobs to take, which ones not to....how to be efficeint, how to pay the company bills, etc. On the other hand, he also knows some average photographers that are making good money because they have good business sense. Remember, it's a business.

One thing I've found out it to shoot, shoot, shoot. Practice and get better and invest in good equipment. Wedding photogs, portrait photogs, commericial photogs and product photogs all pretty much use medium format. Really the only professionals using 35, or similar resolution digital, are journalists and artists...neither of which make much money at it.

Well, MBA's aren't what they were 10 years ago. There are a ton of out of work MBAs right now. So just get a good solid foundation....no need to get 100K in to debt.

Second, what kind of photography do you want to do? If you want to get paid, I'd say go with medium format...you can then go with a digital back if you want. I have a 35mm SLR and Olympus digital and have been looking for ways of making money without investing in medium format and specialty equipment...and I just can't figure it out. Every where I turn they are using medium format. Newspapers are generally ok with 35 mm, but magazines usually require medium.